The Badlapur police have arrested Rishikesh
Shukla, 22, who fraudulently procured a BSNL WLL (Wireless Local Loop)
connection and made international calls worth Rs 42,52,480. Shukla is a
native of Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, and currently lives in Kalyan
Kolsewadi.

Sunil Manjhi, BSNL officer, Kalyan division, said, "While applying
for a BSNL WLL connection, Shukla had submitted a copy of his PAN card, a
copy of his house agreement and address proof, so we allotted him a
connection on September 14.” Shukla paid the bill for the period
September 14 to October 14 and then applied for an ISD call facility,
for which he deposited Rs 3,000 with BSNL. From November 3 to November
23, he made several international calls, for which BSNL sent him a bill
of Rs 42,52,480.

Manjhi said, "These bills kept returning to us with the tag ‘person
not staying at the above address’. Our staff then visited the address.
But, upon checking records, we found that the person had given us forged
documents. So, the department decided to take the help of the Badlapur
police who traced Shukla to Kalyan Kolsewadi and arrested him.”

PI Vijay Bagal, Badlapur police station, said, "We were surprised
when the BSNL officer came to lodge such a complaint, because we
wondered how they gave a connection in the first place without verifying
documents. They should have done some verification while allotting him
the international call facility. Now, the police have written to BSNL
for details of the calls made by the accused.”

Police said Shukla has been pursuing a diploma in mechanical engineering for the past six years and is currently unemployed.